Astronaut Trio Set to Blast Off to International Space Station

— -- Meet the soon-to-be newest residents of the International Space Station.

American astronaut Tim Kopra will be joined on the six-hour trip to the space station by veteran Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and the United Kingdom's Tim Peake, who will have the distinction of being the first British astronaut to visit the outpost in low Earth orbit.

Liftoff is set for 6:03 a.m. EST from Kazakhstan on Tuesday. The trio will ride in Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, which will take 8 minutes and 48 seconds to get into orbit and an additional six hours for the astronauts to reach the space station, which is located 250 miles above Earth.

This will mark Malenchenko's fourth trip to space. Kopra, the American, served at the space station as a flight engineer during Expedition 20. While in orbit, the astronauts, who will be a part of Expedition 46, will work on various science experiments benefiting life on Earth and others that could have an impact on future long-haul missions in space.